While different plans for bigger scale, high-level team and tournament worthy soccer fields are hitting major road blocks in northern Nevada, annoyance is escalating concerning access to existing fields for different leagues and clubs, with a consensus it’s an uneven playing surface benefiting the politically connected and board members of the Reno Youth Sports Association (RYSA) who control city field permitting.
Challenges for delayed initiatives include a lack of private financing for the proposed Battle Born 5,000 seat capacity soccer complex in north Reno, neighborhood opposition for the suggested $40 million soccer stadium in South Valleys, and a lack of available funding to make quick progress on the Pembroke Flat Fields idea in southeast Reno.
Richard Jay, who sits on Reno’s Financial Advisory Board, is a past president of the Great Basin Youth Soccer League who has been advocating for the Pembroke Flat Fields. That project recently got Council approval for $450,000 for final designs, but there is no consensus whatsoever on how to pay for construction now estimated at over $20 million.
“Our current shortage is getting desperate,” Jay said while pleading in front of Council earlier this year for the Pembroke Flat Fields, saying it should have been done years ago, when fields were cheaper to build.
The worst though is for leagues and teams not connected to Jay, GBYSL and El Sol soccer which also has a presence on the RYSA board.
Organizers of several different teams and leagues who aren’t getting the access they want are planning to meet soon to devise a strategy to confront a grandfathered in system they say perpetuates inequalities.
“While no noticeable reform has been made, Sparks and Washoe County parks leadership have acknowledged the problems and a need for change,” Marc Radow behind the Battle Born Parr Blvd project and an avid public speaker in front of multiple boards recently wrote concerning local access to soccer fields, seeing a possible light in this soccer tunnel.
In a letter to the Reno City Council, Mayor Hillary Schieve, Reno Parks and Recreation, and Reno city management, he complained of the Reno Youth Sports Association (RYSA) not allocating the city’s component of fields equitably and inclusively.
He wrote the executive board of RYSA is comprised of “conflicted self-dealing members and alter ego private for profit businesses.”
Its vice chair is Randy Ritter, the president of both GBYSL and the soccer club Reno Apex, its Treasurer Vicki LaRovere is also with GBYSL, its executive chair is Brad Betker with Nevada Lightning Fastpitch Softball, its Commissioner at Large is Michelle Loux with Reno American Little League Baseball, its Secretary is Trish McFadden with Reno-Sparks Pop Warner, its Diamond Commissioner is Pedro Gutierrez with El Sol soccer, and its field maintenance person is Ian Anderson who runs the High Sierra Lacrosse League.
The RYSA executive board reads as a who’s who of who gets easy access to fields locally.
While other sports have fewer local leagues, soccer has many, and also has teams which emphasize development rather than competition, further distancing them from desired field access, as leagues get priority.
Ritter, the GBYSL president who is currently listed as Club President on the Reno Apex website, plays a dual role with both a non profit organization and a for profit team which stands to benefit from his positioning.
Base fees to begin playing for Apex start at $800 with many add ons included in the fine print, while salaries for some local academy coaches are said to run in the six figures, with added reimbursements for tournament travel and lodging.
A lease first signed in 2016 gives GBYSL full ongoing access to the Moana fields, also used by the private club APEX, both presided by Randy Ritter.
The City of Reno communications team told Our Town Reno to direct our queries about field access to GBYSL.
After we asked about the correlation between GBYSL and Apex, and possible favoritism in terms of field allocation, Rob Range, who is described on the Apex website as “Co-Director of Northern Nevada’s Olympic Development Program and … our current Vice President representing Northern Nevada with Nevada Youth Soccer Association,” wrote back a lengthy email to Our Town Reno.
His email address ends with gbysl.org and he cced other members of GBYSL and Ritter on his email.
“Reno APEX Soccer Club is a member club of Great Basin Youth Soccer League and as such gets access to GBYSL fields through our allocation process,” he wrote. “Reno APEX, a supporter and member in good standing with the league since 2006, currently represents over 21% of the teams in our competitive league (GBYSL Select) with 23 teams and 9% of our recreational league (GBYSL Recreational) with another 19 teams. This is significantly more than any other Reno based club and more than all the other Reno based club’s combined. As a comparison, the next largest supporter of GBYSL has 15 teams in our programs this season,” Range explained.
“All the fields that GBYSL has access to and obtains permits for from the City of Reno, City of Sparks and Washoe County are allocated to our member clubs and our independent teams for midweek practice space,” he continued. “That allocation process takes into account a number of factors to include but not limited to the number of teams in the league, requested venue, age of teams, geographic location of membership, historical usage, etc. It is a process that ensures fair and equitable allocation of very limited field space and a process used by sports associations around the county, including Reno Youth Sports Association (RYSA) for soccer, baseball, football and lacrosse fields. Every club and independent team in good standing with GBYSL is allocated adequate practice space and we are able to accommodate most venue requests from club administrators and team coaches.”
As per the Moana fields, which are also called the Richard L. Jay Fields, Range said these were maintained by GBYSL and used by Apex for midweek practices. He said it was unfortunate that the new pool at that location had reduced the soccer playing area by a third there, making it no longer suitable for games for players older than 10.
“Additional fields are desperately needed in our community. The Pembroke Project will alleviate some of the strain on our existing flat fields and we encourage everyone to fully support that project,” Range concluded.
Organizers of teams and leagues who spoke to Our Town Reno anonymously for fear of getting even less soccer field access sang a different tune, including that “it stinks of a monopoly.”
One said he feared the Pembroke fields will be controlled by in his words “the clique already controlling public fields.”
Another explained how leagues and teams scramble between county fields, city fields and having to pay high schools for use of their own fields, with limited availability. Some of the more desirable school fields are governed by the city of Reno, putting them under the control of RYSA as well.
One league organizer recently contacted RYSA while looking for fields for a new season, but said they got no response whatsoever.
They complain that many of the fields are reserved by RYSA linked teams, but when they drive by them these are often not in use.
“I think the hornet's nest needs to be poked and disturbed, to make it fairer,” they concluded.